The firm will recruit people who can help lead coverage in the U.S. after completing a review of the industries it currently focuses on, Tatsuya Kobayakawa, a managing director for investment-banking strategic planning, said at a briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. He declined to say how many people may be hired.

'We will be able to start generating larger profits in the U.S. if the size of the operation becomes bigger', Kobayakawa said. 'Our task is to strengthen our capacity to originate deals'.